Healing Psoriasis

by Dr. Pagano

My approach to psoriasis and eczema views these diseases as beginning in the gut, not the skin. Orthodox medicine traditionally treats the visible symptoms of the disease and admits that it is in the dark concerning the cause and cure of psoriasis. It is no surprise that their results are at best temporary – and very costly, with an annual price tag of over three billion dollars in the USA alone! I see psoriasis and/or eczema as an internal process – the body is attempting detoxification which comes out through the skin. If this is true, logic dictates that it will take another process to clear the condition, the reverse of that which started the problem. This is what I have done for over forty years, working on a regimen to help those afflicted with the disease, with results that have beautified many patients, amazed their dermatologists, and thrilled me. For those who have followed through, with few exceptions, the results showed marked improvement or complete healing, and to this day they are in control of their condition.

This is not to say that I have never met with failure; indeed I have, but, it was the dramatic successes, especially with young people, that kept me going. There is an old saying “Success requires no explanation; failure permits no alibis.” This, on the surface, appears to be largely true – but, a thinking person would still probe the reasons for both as best he could in order to find a possible common denominator. I have found the common denominator for success to consistently be the patient’s commitment to the regimen. The common denominator for failure in most cases was the patient’s lack of patience and persistence. Though this does not always hold true, it is by far the most common reason for failure. There have been cases when the patient returned (after failing the first or second time) and resumed the regimen to a successful outcome. So if a patient does not succeed the first time, they very well may do so on the second or even third attempt. The Regimen I speak of is based on six principles:

1. Internal Cleansing: Eliminating the toxins that have accumulated, particularly in the colon, for years.

2. Proper Diet and Nutrition: Concentrating on a high alkaline/ low acid forming diet – the key, in this approach, to the natural healing of psoriasis. Alkaline-forming foods (fruits and vegetables) should constitute 75% of the diet, and acid-forming foods (meat and grains) should be 25% of the diet.

4. Adjustments of the Spine: Adjusting of the spine, particularly the 6th and 7th dorsal vertebrae; as well as the 3rd cervical, 9th dorsal and 4th lumbar vertebrae, which will help rebuild thin intestinal walls and improve eliminations by insuring proper nerve impulses to these visceral organs and stimulates the immune system.

5. Natural External Application: Applying a good natural moisturizer such as Aveeno Moisturizing Lotion, Vaseline Loti ons with Aloe Vera, Lubriderm, Aquaphor, olive oil/peanut oil mixture, or castor oil for heavy lesions. Epsom salts and Dead Sea Salts baths have also proven very helpful when applicable. Bathing in clean ocean water with moderate exposure to the sun is helpful – but don’t get sunburn!!

6. Right Thinking and Sound Emotions: Realizing it can be done because it has been done; guarding against negative emotions which turn the blood acid, and concentrating on and practicing positive emotions that turn the blood alkaline. Think “Health” not disease!

Coupled with time and patience, these are the principles of healing psoriasis and/or eczema that I have used with extremely encouraging results. But, in order to understand how and why the process works, the patient must grasp the theory behind the therapeutic regimen. My years of research dealing with the subject convince me that “Psoriasis is the external manifestation of the body’s attempt to throw off internal toxins.”

The idea behind the therapeutic procedure is twofold: 1) Eliminate, as much as possible, the toxic elements that have built up in the system by insuring good eliminations; 2) Do not add more of the same toxins to the system found primarily in the foods consumed. This is the two-pronged secret to the natural healing of psoriasis – a carefully selected diet and proper elimination! If a patient and his physician refuse to believe this, they are fighting a losing battle. I have never been able to help a psoriasis sufferer who did not follow the proper rules of diet and nutrition as they pertain to psoriasis and eczema. Without it, patients remain in misery, torment and pain, constantly seeking answers. Their lives are dominated by the disease, and it need not be so!

Orthodox medicine has never seriously considered diet as having any bearing on psoriasis or eczema. Yet doctors admit that they remain baffled as to the cause and cure of the disease, even after 200 years of research, therefore it is classified as unknown and incurable. From their point of view they are absolutely correct. But, when viewed from the inside-out rather than from the outside-in, a whole new approach to the disease emerges. We see psoriasis as a defense mechanism on the part of the body to throw off poisons and acids that would cause irreparable harm to the internal cells and structures of the body if they were not adequately drained from the system.

This toxic accumulation occurs when the body’s natural organs of elimination, primarily the bowels and the kidneys, cannot discharge the toxins as quickly as they are building up. The blood is overloaded with pollutants that must be eliminated. The skin steps in and “comes to the rescue” by trying to eliminate this toxic accumulation through the sweat glands. In this it is doing a job it is not primarily designed to do. It is acting as a back-up system, since the main organs of elimination are overloaded and cannot effectively keep up with the vast accumulations.

What happens is these acids and waste products become so great that they begin to actually seep through the intestinal walls which have become thin, flat and porous, and they are then absorbed by the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system then dumps the toxins into the blood circulatory system. This seepage of toxins is technically referred to as Intestinal Permeability or “Leaky Gut Syndrome.”The blood is constantly filtered and purified primarily by the liver and kidneys, but sometimes the workload becomes so great that these organs can no longer handle the job. Then the skin, a secondary organ of elimination, kicks in and helps the body throw off these poisons, thus causing the rash, irritation, scales and lesions. In other words, in cases of psoriasis, eczema, and probably many other skin diseases, the skin is doing what the bowels and kidneys should be doing: removing toxic waste.

The secret is to remove the existing toxins, don’t add more, and eventually the body can handle the accumulations normally. The skin can then relax and drop back to normal, in many cases not even leaving a trace of the disease. I have seen it happen countless times. Admittedly, patients must follow through for at least six months after they have cleared to help insure better healing of the intestinal walls – but by that time they are usually so satisfied that they wouldn’t think of reverting to their old eating habits. The bottom line is time and patience. There is no substitute for persistence and determination. It took a long time to pollute the body; it will take a reasonable amount of time to purify it.

Keep in mind what I call the 3D’s as they apply to the healing of psoriasis and eczema:
• Diet
• Detoxification
• Determination

These three go hand-in-hand and have convinced my patients and myself that they are the principles to the
healing of this devastating dermatological enigma.

The Cayce/Pagano Regimen

The approach to psoriasis that I used is based on the works of Egar Cayce (1877-1945), a remarkable individual whose discourses on healing are legendary and are becoming more popular with each passing year. Using his advanced theory as a guide to understanding the cause of the disease, as well as a suggested regimen of therapy, I have combined my clinical experience and slowly evolved a working hypothesis, a natural alternative that, over the years, has proven to be extremely beneficial in many cases.

According to the theories advanced by Cayce, that source is found in the intestinal tract.

I find it interesting that Edgar Cayce was the first to offer this explanation for the cause of psoriasis over sixty years ago. He described this osmotic process, which takes place in the intestines, as seepage of toxins through the intestinal walls. Although he did not refer to it specifically as “intestinal permeability” or “leaky gut”, it is quite obvious that he was describing the same phenomenon using the language of his day.

According to the information supplied by Cayce, when the folds of the intestinal tract walls become smooth, as though they were thinned out in the psoriatic, they permit a seepage of toxins through the walls and eventually into the bloodstream. Although the transfer of toxins occurs primarily at the duodenojejunal flexture, the border between the duodenum and the jejunum, this seepage of poisons can and probably does take place throughout the length of both the small and large intestines of a person suffering from psoriasis. The idea therefore, in this new approach to the disease is twofold: (1) to cut down or preferably stop ingesting pollutants, and (2) to strengthen these porous intestinal walls.

Once these two processes are set in motion, regeneration begins, and new skin forms to replace the old. Following the Cayce/Pagano Regimen, the psoriatic’s aim is to ensure that next time, it will be new skin without the addition of toxic elements.

When Cayce was asked if there was an absolute cure for psoriasis, his answer was straight and to the point: most of this is found in diet. There is a cure. It requires patience, persistance, and right thinking.

[Editor’s Note: By invitation, Dr. Pagano presented his healing protocol before a distinguished group of physicians at the Russian Academy of Science in Moscow in October of 2009. For a comprehensive treatment of this subject, order Dr. Pagano’s award-winning book HEALING PSORIASIS: The Natural Alternative or Dr. John’s Healing Psoriasis Cookbook … Plus! exclusively at www.psoriasis-healing.com. For a discussion of Leaky Gut Syndrome, buy Dr. Pagano’s One Cause, Many Ailments: The Leaky Gut Syndrome at www.amazon.com]